QatarEnergy has announced that it is proceeding with a new LNG expansion project, the “North Field West” project, to further raise the state of Qatar’s LNG production capacity to 142 million tons per annum (MTPA) before the end of this decade, representing an increase of almost 85% from current production levels.

Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, made the announcement during a press conference held at QatarEnergy’s Headquarters in Doha.

Speaking at the press conference, Al-Kaabi announced that extensive appraisal drilling and testing have confirmed that productive layers of Qatar’s giant North Field extend towards the west, which allows for developing a new LNG production project in Ras Laffan.

He said that: “QatarEnergy has focused its efforts and attention on determining how far west the North Field’s productive layers extend in order to evaluate the production potential from those areas. We have continued geological and engineering studies and have drilled a number of appraisal wells in that area. I am pleased today to announce that, praise be to God, these great efforts have confirmed, through technical tests of the appraisal wells, the extension of the North Field’s productive layers further towards the west, which means the ability to produce significant additional quantities of gas from this new sector.”

Al-Kaabi also announced the presence of huge additional gas quantities in the North Field estimated at 240 trillion cubic feet, which raises the State of Qatar’s gas reserves from 1,760 to more than 2,000 trillion cubic feet, and the condensates reserves from 70 to more than 80 billion barrels, in addition to large quantities of liquefied petroleum gas, ethane, and helium.

The CEO said: “These are very important results of great dimensions that will take Qatar’s gas industry to new horizons, as they will enable us to begin developing a new LNG project from the North Field’s western sector with a production capacity of about 16 MTPA. As such, the State of Qatar's total LNG production will reach about 142 MTPA when this new expansion is completed before the end of this decade. This represents an increase of almost 85% compared to current production levels. With the completion of this project, the State of Qatar’s total hydrocarbon production will exceed 7.25 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.”

Al-Kaabi added that QatarEnergy will immediately commence the basic engineering works necessary to ensure that the planned progress is achieved according to the approved schedule for this new project, which will be called the North Field West project.